What matters most when drafting legal documents?

According to a 2016 ALM survey of attorneys throughout the US, accuracy was found to be the most important single factor. Examine the distilled results of the survey below.

Attorneys were asked to rank the order of importance of the five considerations when drafting:

Accuracy was by far ranked most often as the most important consideration. It was rated either first or second 90% of the time. When coupled with reducing risk (which goes hand in hand with accuracy), they account for 86% of the top vote.

“Would you ever skip legal document proofreading steps to spend more time focusing on cost-effective litigation?”

Only 38% said they would never skip a proofreading step, meaning 62% said they would skip proofreading steps, depending on circumstances.

This tells us is that although accuracy is most important, attorneys don't always have the time to devote to proofreading which increases their risk of drafting errors.

“To what extent do you agree that drafting software mitigates any of the risks associated with document drafting errors?”

Of those familiar with drafting software, 83% agreed that drafting software mitigates risks, indicating a high level of confidence in drafting software.

“How important is it that legal drafting software integrate with your legal research, case files, and other documents?”

Most attorneys reported that integration was important for drafting software. In fact, when you isolate the results among those attorneys familiar with drafting software, 94% said it was important.

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